Device for sewing installations for clamping workpieces



Oct. 15, 1968 H SCHOLL ET AL.

DEVICE FOR SEWING INSTALLATIONS FOR CLAMPING WORKPIECES Filed Nov. 22, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIGJ mvENroRs;

/fA/vs r501m L Oct. l5, 1968 H, SCHOLL ET AL 3,405,670

DEVICE FOR SEWING INSTALLATIONS FOR CLAMPING woHKPIEcEs Filed Nov. 22. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mlm 29 INVENTORS.

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Arron Ney United States Patent O 3,405,670 DEVICE FOR SEWING INSTALLATIQNS FOR CLAMPING WORKPIECES Hans Scholl, 13 Am Tolenkamp, and Hubert .Iiinemanxn 68B Sndbrackstrasse, both of 4S Bielefeld, Germany Filed Nov. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 596,166 Claims priority, application Germany, Nov. 27, 1965, K 57,762 9 Claims. (Cl. i12-2) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for clamping workpieces consisting of two or more layers, in a sewing/installation. The device includes a carrier for a workpiece, a clamp holder formed by a pair of plates articulated to one another, a template which determines the course of the seam and/or the shape of the workpiece and a device for lengthening one or more material layers relative to one another.

The invention relates to Va device employed in sewing installations for clamping workpieces consisting of two or more layers, said device comprising a carrier for a workpiece and a clamp holder formed -by a pair of plates articulated to one another, a template which determines the course of the seam and/or the shape of the workpiece and a device for lengthening one or more material layers relative to another.

The object of the invention is to facilitate the insertion of several layers of material which are to be sewn automatically onto workpieces, such as collars, cutis, pocket patches, tro-user loops, in clamp holders for workpieces, in order to increase the operational efficiency of these installations. Here, the material blanks must be arranged with their wrong sides facing one another in such a manner that the upper material will be longer than the lining, to prevent the lining from protruding beyond the edges of the upper material after the sewing and the final reversal of the workpiece. A further o-bject of the invention is to facilitate the changeover of the devices .in sewing installations, in order to speed up the change from one sewing program to another.

In a known automatic, template controlled, sewing device (German Patent 980,500), there are employed exchangeable workpiece clamp holders distributed radially and symmetrically on a rotatable table in order to bring, consecutively into the operating area of a sewing machine, the workpieces clamped in workpiece clamp holders during a continuous cycle. These workpiece clamp holders are provided with a mechanism for making one 1layer of material longer than the other when the plates articulated to one another are clasped together, so that the seam of the completed garment will not be seen directly after turning the sewn workpiece portion. These workpiece clamp holders are provided `with a mechanism for making one layer of material longer than the other when the plates articulated to one another are clasped together, so that the seam of the completed garment can not be `seen directly after turning the sewn workpiece portion.

In this workpiece clamp holder there is employed a rigid spacing plate, which is secured at a corresponding distance to the lower plate for picking up the lower material layer which is laid on the fupper material layer before the closing of the holder. In a template for the mechanical sewing of material layers, disclosed in the German published patent application No. 1,175,536, there is arranged a fill plate for spacing interiorly of the templates, said till plate being articulated to atleast one of the templates and extending into corresponding recesses of the templates in the closed position of said templates and connected with the linking station by means of a substantially thinner connecting piece opposite the iill plate.

In this template, this articulated lill plate must be lifted manually for inserting individual material portions, wherelby time is lost during the work cycle.

Time losses occur likewise during the required change of workpiece clamp holders used in the above described sewing installation, Awhen the sewing program is changed; the workpiece holders being secured to the rotary table by clampin-g screws and requiring an adjustment in such a manner, that the guide templates for the magnetic rollers butt or joint one another without steps.

This arrangement is complicated since the secure clamping of the workpiece clamp holders to the rotary table can only take place after the adjustment of the -gu-ide templates.

The object of the invention is to provide a device, of the above type, which comprises simple means which will make possible an accelerated insertion of the material portions to `be sewn and the lengthening of one material layer relative to another layer, when the workpiece clamps are closed, as well as speeding the change of the devices in the sewing installation for changing the pro-gram.

This problem is solved by means of a device for automatically reaching an intermediate position, facilitating the insertion of the material layers, when the workpiece clamp holders are openednand to space one or more material layers opposite one another after the closin-g of the workpiece clamp holders.

This device consists of a -bolt swingably mounted on an upper clamp plate of the Iworkpiece holder, which serves as a gripper, a yoke which may `be brought into a position between the clamp plates when the workpiece holder is open, and which is received in a recess formed by elastic clamping bars when the holder is closed. This yoke is swingably supported on arms secured on the upper clamp plate and provided with stop bolts for the yoke. The yoke consists of two halves, which are secured to one another by means of a hose coupling.

In order to achieve a parallelism between both plates articulated to one another, independent of the thickness of the material layers, the upper clamping plate is secured to an extension arm by means of a thin leaf spring, said arm being adjustably screwed to a spring biased lever supported on the carrier. A pin with a semispherical head is mounted in the upper clamping plate, said pin registering with the extension arm when the workpiece clamp holder is closed.

A leaf spring is arranged at the lower clamp plate secured to the carrier, while guides are provided on the lower clamping plate for aligning the layers of material.

To effect a quick change of the devices in the sewing installation, adjustable guide screws are inserted in the carriers, said screws serving to align the device on the sewing installation.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and will be described below:

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a device secured to a rotatable table and a partly shown sewing machine driven by a magnetic roller, shown in side elevation;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the device;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the device with open workpiece clamps;

FIG. 4 is a front View of the device;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken on line V-V of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line VI-VI of FIG. 2 and FIG. 7 is a section on line VII-VII of FIG. 2.

Rigidly clamped to a rotary table 1 of a sewing installation (not shown), are carriers 2, bearing workpiece clamp holders 3 and provided with a lower plate 4 for securing a template 5, against the inner contour 6 of which rolls a driven magnetic roller 7 (FIG. l) which determines the course of the seam a'nd the shape of the workpiece. The magnetic roller is supported in a horizontal swinging arm 8, displaceable in all directions and which also carries the sewing machine 9, whose needle 10 extends axially of the magnetic roller 7.

Spacer pieces 11 are provided between the lower plate 4 and the template 5, said spacer pieces being fitted to plate 4 by means of pin 12 and screws 13. A threaded bolt 14 on the spacer piece 11 serves to receive the template 5, which is secured by means of nut 15.

A clamping lever 19, rotatable about a bolt 17 and provided with an hand grip 18, is positioned in the slot 16. A recess 20 in the carrier 2 permits the securing of clamp holder 3 on table 1. Adjustable slotted stop screws 21 are screwed in the carrier 2 in the area of the recess, said screws being adjustable with a screwdriver and being secured against rotation by nuts 22.

Positioned parallel to the rotary table 1 on carrier 2, is a lower clamping plate 23, which is exchangeably secured to the carrier by means of screws 24, 24. A leaf spring 25 (FIGS. 2 and 3) secured on clamp plate 23, serves for securely clamping a lower material layer 26 after it is inserted in the workpiece holder 3.

A pair of adjustable stops 27, for positioning the lower layer of material 26 and the upper layer of material 52, are screwed to the clamping plate 23. A block 30 is screwed on to the upper clamp plate 29 and a thin leaf spring 31 is secured thereto by rivets 32, the other end of the spring 31 being riveted to extension arm 33 at 34. The extension arm 33 is adjustably secured to lever 36 by means of screws 35, said lever being rotatably mounted about a shaft 37 (FIG. l), which is received in the bearing supports 38 screwed to the carrier 2. 'Ihe lever 36 is under the tension of a spring 39. A pin 40 with a semispherical head 41 is inserted in the middle of block 30. The extension arm 33 secured to the lever 36 is disposed on pin 40, against which it is bia'sed by spring 39.

The upper clamping plate 29 is provided on its side which faces the lower clamping plate 23, with elastic clamping bars 42, 43, which are glued or vulcanized to the clamping plate 29 in such a manner, that a recess 44 is formed between them. A parted yoke 45, 45' is received in this recess when the workpiece clamp holder 3 is closed, both halves of the yoke being connected by hose piece 46 (FIG. 7). The yoke parts 45, 45 are swingably supported on spreading arms 47 which are screwed on to the upper clamp plate. To this end, the yoke parts 45, are provided with ears 48 (FIG. l) through which extend the shaft screws 49, threaded in the spreading arms 47.

The yoke parts 45, 45' are provided with crimpings 50, in the eiective area' of which crimpings are provided gripping bolts 51, which are inserted in the spreading arms 47. As may be seen in FIG. 3, the bolts 51 come in contact with the crimpings of the yoke 45, 45', when the workpiece clamp holders 3 are opened, so that the yoke parts arrive in a middle position for the insertion of the upper material layer 52. With the lowering of the workpiece clamp holder 3, the upper layer of material 52 is drawn into the recess 44 by the yoke parts 45, 45', whereby this layer of material (upper material) is lengthened relative to the lower material 25 (lining material).

In order to fabricate various types of workpieces, using the carrier 2, it is only necessary to exchange the lower clamping plate 23, the upper clamping plate 29 with the spreading arms 47 and the divided yoke as well as the template 5. In the extension arm 33, there are provided two rows of threaded bores 53, 53 in which the screws 35 may be inserted according to the desired degree of the extension of the lever 36.

The devices must be securely clamped to the rotary table 1 by means of the clamping levers 18, 19 in such a manner, that the adjacent templates 5, 5 (FIG. 2) butt one another without forming steps or interspaces, so that the magnetic roller 7 may roll over the butt joints without hindrance. This equalization can be effected by means of stop screws 21, which, once adjusted, always provide an unobstructed passage at the butt joints.

The advantages achieved by the invention reside in that the insertion of the material layers in the workpiece clamps is greatly facilitated and thus speeded up, so that it may be brought to the sewing installation in clamped condition, while one layer of materials attains an increased distance from another layer; in the speedier exchangeability of the device at the sewing installation, e.g., a rotary table, for the purpose of a' programming change. A further advantage is to be noted, in that only one clamping type carrier is required for various shapes of workpieces requiring appropriately formed guide templates and workpiece clamp plates; the guide templates as well as the workpiece clamping plates may be cut out of sheet metal by a photo-electric copying method according to drawn originals and provided with a final sandbla'sting, leveling and drilling at a reasonable cost.

We claim:

1. In a sewing installation including a sewing machine with a vertically displaceable needle and magnetic roller means associated with the machine and in axial alignment with said needle, a rotary table, a carrier member secured to said table, means on said carrier member for clamping a plurality of layers of material to be sewn, said clamping means including means for lengthening one layer of material relative to the other when said clamping means is in closed position, means for securing a template to said carrier member and cooperating with the magnetic roller means for determining the course of a seam to be sewn.

2. The combination according to claim 1, wherein said clamping means comprises an upper clamping member and a lower clamping member, a pair of bars of elastic material spacedly secured to said upper clamping member for forming a recess therebetween, a yoke member in said clamping means, said yoke member being adapted to be received in said recess when said clamping means is in closed position and gripping bolts for engaging with said yoke in said closed position.

3. The combination according to claim 2, further comprising a pair of jibs secured to said upper clamping member, said yoke and said gripping bolts being secured to Y said jibs.

4. The combination according to claim 3, wherein said yoke member consists of two parts and a hose piece conpin secured to the upper clamping plate, said pin having a semispherical head, adapted to be emplaced against said extension arm when said clamping means is in closed position.

7. The combination according to claim 6, a lower plate member is provided with a leaf spring for adjusting the lower layer of material.

8. The combination according to claim 7, further including stops secured to said lower clamping member for aligning the layers of material.

9. The combination according to claim 8, further including adjustable stop screws secured to said carrier adjacent said rotary table, said screws being in abutment with said table for aligning said carrier with the sewing machine.

6 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1915 Cousland 112-2 1/1918 McDonald 112-2 1/ 1946 McLellan 112-2 5/ 1962 Bennison 112-2 10/1966 Scholl 112-102 X FOREIGN PATENTS 6/ 1953 Italy. 6/ 1965 Netherlands.

HERBERT F. ROSS, Primary Examiner.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PATENT OFFICE Washington, D.C. 20231 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,405 ,670 October l5 1968 I Hans Scholl et al.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

In the heading to the printed specification, line 5, "68B Sudbrackstrasse, both of 48 Bielefeld, Germany" should read Bielefeld, Germany, assignors to Kochs Adlernahmaschinen Werke A.G. Bielefeld, Germany Signed and sealed this 10th day of March 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

Edward M. Fletcher, Jr. Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

